I thought I would begin this post by explaining our morning routines. When the children first arrive, they hang up their belongings and hand in their note tote bags (zippered pouches holding agendas). They proceed to their desks and begin working through their "Rise and Shine" binders. These binders provide the children with daily writing practice of the following: their name, days of the week, months of the year, and number words. It also allows the children to gain rich learning experiences with tallying numbers, working with numbers (what comes before and after a particular number), and base ten practice (hundreds, tens ones). I have come to LOVE these binders! The children know the daily routine and what is expected of them. As the year goes on, I will continue to add more pages to these binders to increase their knowledge of concepts being taught, as well as to peek their interest. I have to send a big thank you to Reagan Tunstall at Tunstalls Tidbits for sharing a wonderful creation.
We have now completed our first week of Read to Self. The children have their own reading boxes where they go to find books at their instructional level. When they take their box, they find a special place to read by themselves. Our goals are to stay in one spot the whole time, read the whole time, and remain focused and quiet. We began charting our minutes on a graph and by Friday we reached 5 minutes of uninterrupted reading time. I know it doesn't seem like a long time; however, for 18 first grade children, it is a big accomplishment! The children were introduced to the word "stamina" and now refer to it often when talking about our goals for reading. Stamina = Sticking With It! We are working towards 10 minutes for this upcoming week! We can do it!! I know we can!!
In Science, we have been discussing the four seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall). We have talked about the differences in temperature, how the weather affects animals (hibernation, migration), and how trees change with the seasons. This week we especially focused on clothing and how we choose what to wear depending on the weather and time of year. The children had a great time with our lesson. I brought in a bag full of mystery clothing. Four children were chosen to represent each season and as I pulled an item from the bag, the class helped decide which child had to wear it. Well, there were many laughs and giggles because many of the clothing items were either too big or too small.
Our math for the week focused around skip counting by 5's and 10's to 100, reading subitizing cards and ten frames, and working on grouping numbers by 5 to 25. On the 25th of September, Bellwood will be having its 25th anniversary. With this in mind, one of our lessons focused around the number 25. The children were placed in pairs and given a mat with 5 frames totalling 25. The children then were given a special box full of mystery items. Each box contained different items, such as: keys, jewels, shells, rocks, double sided beans, and buttons. The children were asked to sort the collections into groups of 5 and then count them by 5's. After a few minutes, they were then told to clean up and move to the nearest mystery box. The children rotated through the boxes numerous times and had a chance to explore different materials and practise counting by 5's.
By the end of the week, the children were ready to let loose. Our Terry Fox Run was changed to the morning due to a forecast of rain for the afternoon. Surprisingly, despite the cloudy outlook, the sun shone through and the children had a wonderful morning for running. I was so proud of my class and how hard they ran. They gave it their all and were so proud of their accomplishments! I'm sure there were some early bedtimes on Friday night, no need to persuade little ones to sleep.
Please continue to have your child practise skip counting by 5's and 10's, as well as counting backwards from 20 or any number below that. Extra practice printing letters and review of letter sounds is especially helpful at this point in the year. Beginning in October, our home reading program will begin. Thank you for your continued support of our WONDERFUL first graders!!
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